Reluctant Striker

Still only 3 points of 3rd, but.. Villa are definitely struggling from what they had to do in the transfer window. Which did include looking to tread water rather than press on. Difficult to predict anything but a battering at Stamford Bridge next weekend. At least Manchester is providing amusing distractions..

With Villa I think it's mostly the transfer activities that have been finally impacting. Duran was getting lots of attention for his multiple late winners off the bench. Rogers has been getting England potential type reviews. But it's often been a whole new midfield pair & plenty of the others just not quite performing yet. Palace (h), Juventus (h) & Chelsea (a) feels like a point where something needs to start properly clicking. If we are going to stay in & around the race for a top 4 spot.

Liverpool vs Villa ? Feels like the wheels are in danger of coming off the extraordinary Unai wagon. He's taken us so far, so quickly, I think he will be immune from too much pressure for some time. But today, at very, very best Villa find a bit of form & squeak a narrow win, or battle for a point. Or, it gets embarrassing. Almost Man United style.

Ask any Wolves / West Midlands fan whether West Ham or Forest got their last manager appointment right, it would be 70%-80% for Forest.

The more I look into internal trading standards, the better it seems there has not been the right alignment of US President & UK PM to do some kind of enhanced trade deal. I was watching a documentary recently on lots of American sourced snack foods & soft drinks being seized from small UK shops, because the ingredients used are known to cause diseases, such as cancer. The US is that far behind on regulations. And many US toothpastes contain peroxide, way above any level the EU would sanction. Plus, if it was ever a Trump deal, which does at least seem off the menu now, he would bend the UK over a big one. Even if he does prefer the UK (which he can just about understand the language of) over a number of other places. But, honestly can not say I will miss the Biden, Macron, UVDL cosy up at all the 'diplomatic' get togethers. Maybe that's their approach with China, Russia, North Korea, etc. In my opinion 'the left' these days seem to forget how many people just are not hard wired into looking for anything but the others. And so often it feels like that's a significant part of the sales pitch.

1st to 8th in one match! 1 of the toughest away Premier League matches next. Hope they start finding form again soon.

For suggesting in a press conference that bleach may be an answer to Covid, it's absurd he's been re-elected. For that reason alone. A generation back just any 1 of the scandal of talking such nonsense, or being impeached, or found guilty of any crime.. it would have been political career ending. There must be some hope that he is a 1 off phenomenon though.

Can't really complain. Diaby was not really replaced. Bailey has had minor knocks / form issues. Buendia is still on the comeback path. And defensively Onana & Tielemans are not quite Kamara & Douglas Luiz. Form vs the lower half of the table had been suggesting beatings vs the better teams. Anfield next weekend.. At this point I'm mostly trying to decide what exactly it is that James Maddison said or did to Ange..

You may have noticed I tend toward feelings & instincts rather than tactical analysis. But, on this occasion, I have to say Unai's line up, with the level of players Villa have, beats Ange's line up, with the level of players Spurs have. Ange needs to change something soon, or get bailed out by an individual moment or 2. Would not put it past them. But right now, the match is being decided by the 2 coaches.

I still can't help but feel that the cups are worthwhile winning. Our 2nd choice was never going to win through. Just the same as our 1st choice will likely fall short to some extent in the priority competitions. It doesn't sit right with me, but 4th in the league beats a cup win. From the money men down.

I've not been suggesting they should not get rid of ten Hag. West Ham won a first trophy since the early 80's & got rid of their manager soon after. It is the way football is these days. The main point I was originally making was that winning what the Fergie era considered the lesser trophies is just perhaps as good as it gets for Man United for some time. Explain how this is factually incorrect Mr Ineos? No club will ever be a happy place unless it can celebrate what it achieves.

BBC News using images of Dalot to break the news was subtle, but appreciated.

More recently & relevantly the 2020/21 season featured Arsenal finishing 8th after spending an extended part of early season much lower, with all kinds of angsty fans & fairly sure had Xhaka giving some back to the fans. With Arteta as manager. To follow in your more avant garde style, Huw Edwards was the Welsh & white Trevor McDonald that recently..

Being 14th after 9 games is taking Man United to depths they just can not accept. And just so much seems so wrong at the club. On the other hand, in an era of Man City, with Liverpool & Arsenal as nearest challengers, is 1 league cup & 1 FA Cup, regardless of performance, playing style & league position, sort of good? Would things be easier for a manager at Spurs or Chelsea with 2 trophies? I'd give it 50-50 if a new manager gets them moving back up, or continues to stagger around feeling deeply unsatisfied with only challenging for the lesser trophies.

The way the match went, Bournemouth's late goal should really have been a consolation. A few of this type match mounting up now. I obviously still take this over the bottom 6. But, plenty to feed into the go-to punditry that Villa are not really in with much chance of anything. On all the others, Slot at Liverpool is impressing me. I think there is a tradition of clubs doing well before a manager change, suffering a dip. But it's not going that way at all. I do see the amusing side to Brighton & Forest being where they are. It's early, but that Big 6/7 just are not where they are supposed to be. I think Southampton & Wolves could make it a 1 spot race for the others. Though both did well in different ways on Saturday.